English football club, Liverpool is the latest to show solidarity as tension boils in the United States following the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died in police custody.
The players today, June 1, 2020, during their training session took a knee around the centre circle at Anfield in a message of support for an end to racism.
The picture featuring 29 Liverpool players came with the caption “Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter.”
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, first protested against racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling down during the United States national anthem in the summer of 2016. Since then, that gesture has become symbolic of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Nationwide protests have erupted in the US after Floyd was choked to death on May 25, 2020, by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
How CNN crew covering Minneapolis protests were arrested live on TV
The police officer, Derek Chauvin, who perpetrated the act has been charged with murder and sacked from the police service.
Meanwhile, Manchester United players; Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford have added their voices to the protests against racism.
Rashford taking to his Twitter handle said “I know you guys haven’t heard from me in a few days. I’ve been trying to process what is going on in the world. At a time I’ve been asking people to come together, work together, and be united, we appear to be more divided than ever. People are hurting and people need answers. Black lives matter. Black culture matters. Black communities matter. We matter.”
Paul Pogba also took to his Instagram handle saying “During the past few days I have thought a lot about how to express my feelings about what happened in Minneapolis. I felt anger, pity, hatred, indignation, pain, sadness. Sadness for George and for all black people who suffer from racism EVERY DAY! Whether in football, at work, at school, ANYWHERE! This has to stop, once and for all! Not tomorrow or the next day, it has to end TODAY! Violent acts of racism can no longer be tolerated. I can’t tolerate it. I won’t tolerate it. WE WON’T TOLERATE. Racism is ignorance. LOVE is intelligence. STOP the silence. STOP racism.”
On Sunday, May 31, 2020, English footballer Jadon Sancho unveiled a “Justice for George Floyd” T-shirt after scoring for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn and Marcus Thuram took a knee after scoring for Borussia Monchengladbach.
Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/sSu2sarAXa
— Liverpool FC (at 🏠) (@LFC) June 1, 2020